Ashley Ehasz, the Democratic congressional candidate for Pennsylvania’s First District, hosted an event on Thursday evening that has not been seen by area constituents for nearly six years: a real town hall.
Sponsored by the Doylestown County Democrats, upwards of 120 people gathered at the municipal building in Doylestown to meet Ehasz and take part in a live question-and-answer session.
Connor O’Hanlon, chair of the Doylestown Democrats and host of the Con OH Podcast, kicked off the evening by welcoming the audience and introducing Democratic Congresswoman Madeleine Dean of Pennsylvania’s Fourth District.
“This is a beautiful night for a really great occasion, to have a conversation about democracy and people who want to serve us,” Dean said.
“Everything is on the line. January 6th showed us that,” explained Dean prior to introducing Ehasz. “I’m delighted that somebody like Ashley has stood up to say I want to serve. I want to be a part of making sure this democracy stands not just for me but for generations to come.”
“There’s a moment of crisis right now in our country. There’s a lot of political division. We saw an attack on our nation’s Capitol. In this year, 2022, the fundamental rights of so many folks are being taken away,” Ehasz said just prior to opening up the floor for questions.
Unlike PA01’s current Republican Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick, Ehasz answered all questions, none of which were scripted or canned as has been the case throughout Fitzpatrick’s three terms.
Ehasz is up front and candid about her support of a woman’s right to choose, a position supported by a majority of Americans.
Several anti-choice (“pro-life”) activists were in the audience and when asked if there should be no restrictions on abortion, Ehasz diplomatically and without hesitation replied that she believes such a decision should be between a woman and her doctor.
Other questions from the audience included topics such as: rising crime, law enforcement, veterans’ benefits, domestic terrorism, commonsense gun control, foreign policy as well as voting and mail-in ballots.
When asked if she would continue to host in-person town halls once in office, Ehasz, a West Point graduate, Iraq war veteran and Apache helicopter pilot, replied that she has signed the Town Hall Pledge to regularly meet with residents.
Throughout the evening, Ehasz demonstrated her knowledge and awareness of the problems impacting the nation and conveyed a commitment that, if elected, she will advocate for constituents, not corporations.
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